Broken Iris
by Captain StillNotGinger
Summary: Lin learns of her mother's blindness. Toph/Lin moments. Oneshot.


Lin was enjoying another day at Air Temple Island with her "cousins" while her mother was off "catching bad guys" as Lin liked to call it. When her mother had come to pick her up one evening after a long day, she had run to her at full speed, a slightly worn piece of paper trailing with her.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look what I drew you!" Lin said, shoving the paper as close to Toph's as she could from the ground.

"It's beautiful, Lin!" Toph exclaimed, taking a few moments to examine the paper she couldn't see. Lin looked at her mother's face and saw something there. For a moment, she thought she had upset her and she didn't know why. Katara had come up behind them and watched the scene with a twinge of sadness on her face, similar to Toph's. Lin looked at her and suddenly didn't feel so excited about her picture anymore. She looked up at the two adults.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked hesitantly looking from her mother to Katara.

"Look at me," Toph said. Even though she couldn't see, she knew Lin was looking at her, asking for an answer. "You've done nothing wrong, Lin, got it?." Toph stared right into her daughter's eyes and Lin looked back nodding and not knowing that her mother couldn't see her the way she could.

"Why don't you go play with the other kids so me and your mom can talk for a while," Katara said, urging Lin to go and easing the tension. She then walked into the kitchen, Toph in tow. She poured some tea and offered the cup to the blind bender.

"You have to tell her sometime, Toph," Katara said, getting right to the point. When Toph didn't reply, she went on. "She asked about your eyes again today," she took a sip of tea. "She wondered why they looked different from everyone else's."

"What did you tell her?" Toph asked quietly.

"I told her to ask you and that you would tell her when you thought the time was right," Katara responded. "She's just curious,"

"Things will be different," Toph said, taking a sip of the steaming tea in her hand, turning away from Katara's concerned stare. "She will think differently of me if she thinks I am...disabled." Toph finished, trying to think of a better word for it.

"That's ridiculous, Toph!" Katara said surprised at Toph's reasoning. "She already loves you so much, anyone can tell you that! Besides, look at what you do everyday! She will think her mother is even more amazing knowing that she is the greatest earthbender in the world and blind," She smirked at the praise. Classic Toph.

"Maybe you're right," Toph said, giving in.

"I know I'm right," Katara said in her motherly voice that Toph had become accustomed to years ago. "She won't care either way, but she should know."

"Thanks, Katara."

They were home and sitting together on Toph's bed when she brought up the events of earlier that day.

"Aunt Katara told me you asked about my eyes again today," Toph said lightly. Lin looked up at her, not sure if she was about to get in trouble or not.

"Yes," she murmured.

"Why didn't you ask me?" she asked soothingly.

"I was afraid you'd be mad at me," Lin mumbled, still not sure if she was in trouble for asking at all.

"I can never be mad at you Lin, it's okay, you can ask me," Lin sat for a moment and looked into her mother's milky green eyes, trying to get up the courage.

"Why do your eyes look different?" Lin finally asked, stumbling a little on the words. Toph took a breath before she answered, remember what Katara had said.

"Because, Lin, my eyes don't work," Toph waited for what seemed like a century for Lin's response.

"They don't work?" Lin asked. "You mean you can't see?" Lin concluded.

"That's right," Toph answered.

"Why?" Lin finally asked after another minute of thinking.

"That's just the way I was born,"

"You've never been able to see, mommy?"

"No, honey, I haven't." Toph was getting anxious now. What did Lin think of her now? Not knowing was killing her.

"Can you see me?"

"No, Linny, I can't see anything, not the way you do." Lin pondered this for a moment before asking more questions.

"Then how do you always know where I am?"

"I 'see' through earthbending,"

"What do you mean?" Lin asked, a deep curiosity in her voice that made Toph relax a little.

"I sense the vibrations in the earth so I know where everything is, even you." Toph felt her chest relax. Hearing her daughter curious in how she saw the world rather than upset that it had been kept a secret from her was relief enough.

"Will I be able to do that one day?" Lin asked. Toph smiled down at her with pride in her face.

"One day, maybe."

"Will I ever be as good an earthbender as you, mommy?"

"Probably not," Toph began. "You'll be better." Lin wrapped her tiny arms around Toph's middle, squeezing her tightly and muttering "I love you, mommy" into her chest. Toph hugged Lin back, so relieved that Lin wasn't ashamed in her mother's lack of sight. Toph hadn't realized it until she had said it, but it somehow took weight off of her shoulders knowing that Lin knew she was blind.

*****

In the few months after she found out, Lin had learned a lot about how her mother saw the world. As Lin began earthbending, they would play hide and seek to teach Lin how to sense through the earth. It was a lopsided game, seeing as Toph was much better at seismic sensing, but Lin was happy to learn and be just like her mother.

One day, Lin had figured out a way to win. They were playing in a large field, within the woods just outside the city. There, Lin could concentrate on sensing her mother and all the animals that were hiding out of eye's sight. This time it was Lin's turn to hide and although she knew how good her mother was at this, she was determined to win at least once.

Toph held onto a low branch, her feet off the ground, while Lin tried to hide. When her feet hit the ground after counting to sixty, she began to search, sensing the earth, searching for the oh so familiar heartbeat. She sensed all the animals close by, but Lin was nowhere to be found. The clearing was vast though and so she began to walk, wondering if her daughter had earthbended herself an underground tunnel. She wouldn't be surprised if she had. Lin was still a beginning, but she was her daughter after all. After ten minutes of searching, Toph decided to give in, just wanting to feel her daughter's heartbeat.

Lin had been watching her mother wander around from a tree on the clearing's edge. She knew her mother would never be able to sense her there and so she watched, not making a sound knowing that Toph's hearing was far better than her own. She watched at Toph got to her knees and placed a hand on the ground, trying to figure out where her daughter had gone off to.

"Lin?" she called out, not getting up. She listened keenly, trying to find even the slightest movement that would tell her where her daughter was, but she sensed nothing. "Lin! Alright, you win! Come out!" Toph called, a little panic in her voice. She began to wonder if something had happened. She had been off the ground for an entire minute, anything could had went down and she wouldn't know.

"LIN!" Toph yelled, her voice echoing. Panic clear in her mother's voice, Lin felt guilty for not coming down the minute her mother had called her the first time. She could tell now that Toph was serious. She began to climb down the tree, calling out "mommy!" as she did so her mother would know where she was.

"Lin?" Toph turned her head to where the sound was, but still didn't sense the heartbeat she so desperately now wanted to feel.

The instant Lin's feet touched the ground, Toph got up and ran to her, grabbing her in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry mommy," Lin said, hugging her mother just as tightly. "Are you mad at me?" she asked, her voice wavering.

"No, baby, you just scared mommy is all," Toph said, pulling Lin closer to her.

*****

Toph had just gotten back from picking up Lin from Air Temple Island and she was exhausted. It had been along day at work and she just wanted to crash. Lin had gotten herself all ready for bed by herself and came running into her mother's room as usual. But this time she had something with her.

"Mommy, can you read me a story?" Lin asked, offering her mother the book she had gotten from one of the kids. Toph took the book, grimaced, and looked over to Lin.

"What?" Lin asked as her mother stared at her.

"Lin, I can't read." Toph pointed to her eyes. "I'm blind remember?" Lin hadn't thought about that. Since her mother couldn't see, she wouldn't be able to read and she felt stupid for not realizing it before she had asked. She pulled herself into her mother's lap and tossed the book onto the floor.

"That book is stupid," she declared. "Tell me a story about the war," Her eyes lit up at the idea of hearing another one of her mother's war stories. Toph hugged her closer and began telling her another story about defeating the fire lord.


End file.
